Chapter 358
Chapter 358:
“That’s my Queen,” Kain rasped, his voice a guttural, vibrating command that sent a violent spark straight to my core.
He didn’t give me a chance to breathe. His mouth crashed down on mine in a ruthless, rewarding claim. The kiss was a fiery confirmation of our dark alliance, a promise that we would rule the ashes together. He swept me off my feet, carrying me back toward the tangled black silk sheets, plunging us back into the beautiful, consuming dominance of our shared empire.
Carmella POV
The afternoon sun poured through the large windows of my Chelsea apartment, but it did nothing to warm the sudden, paralyzing ice in my veins. I held my phone tightly to my ear, my heart hammering a frantic rhythm against my ribs.
“I have a board meeting on Monday, Grant,” I argued, trying to keep my voice steady, though my knuckles were stark white. “We agreed this arrangement was just for my parents’ dinner. Going to the Blackstone Estate for the weekend crosses the line p>
“I have already canceled your weekend appointments, Carmella,” Grant’s deep, resonant baritone vibrated through the speaker. His tone wasn’t a request; it was laced with an absolute, unquestionable authority that made the air in my living room feel suffocatingly thin. “Pack a bag. It’s time my father met the woman who will be the mother to his grandchildren p>
The line went dead.
I slowly lowered the phone, a cold panic clawing at my throat. Mother to his grandchildren. This wasn’t a fake contract anymore. He was unilaterally rewriting the rules, dragging me out of my safe, human world and directly into the center of his terrifying power. I was entirely powerless to stop him.
I walked into my bedroom on trembling legs, stopping in front of the full-length mirror. I reached into the closet and pulled out a conservative navy blue dress, holding it up against my chest to see if it was appropriate for a billionaire’s estate.
Suddenly, a sharp, blinding agony exploded in my right temple.
𝖭𝖾𝘄 𝗰𝘩𝘢𝗉𝘁𝘦𝗋𝗌 е𝗏e𝗿y 𝘄𝘦𝖾𝗸 𝗈𝗇
It felt like jagged shards of silver piercing directly into my brain. I gasped, stumbling backward as my dissociative amnesia violently fractured.
Flashes of a forgotten nightmare hijacked my vision. The deafening, horrific screech of twisting metal. A shower of shattering glass glittering in the dark. And then, a scent—a sickening, burnt odor violently mixed with the heavy, intoxicating aroma of rosemary and rain.
A wave of intense nausea surged up my throat. My chest heaved as a primal, paralyzing terror consumed me. Every instinct in my wolfless body was screaming that going to the Blackstone Estate wasn’t just a weekend trip. I was walking blindly back into a deadly, inescapable trap I had barely survived long ago.
My hands shook uncontrollably, and the navy blue dress slipped from my numb fingers, pooling like a dark shadow on the hardwood floor.
Grant POV
The afternoon sun glared off the pristine marble steps of the Capitol Building. I descended with lethal, measured strides, the deep, vibrating purr of my Lycan echoing in my chest.